Choosing a web Domain Name

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Introduction

The right to register a web domain name does not necessarily guarantee the right to use it. If your domain name is used primarily or exclusively in relation to a product or service of the same name this could infringe another's trademark.

Technically, a domain name is more akin to a trading name than to a trademark. A trading name belongs to the category of "brand identity" - that is product or business "brand", whereas a trademark is specific to a product.

Although trademark registration is strongly recommended as a protection for a product name, this alone may not guarantee protection. The "period of continuous usage" of a name can be interpreted as conferring common law rights.

Subject to any trademark or other prior rights of others, in practice, web site users tend to regard domain name availability as indicating that they are probably entitled to use it. In the rare cases where another person or organisation claims prior rights to the name the current registrant will normally be invited to cease usage (or they may be invited to transfer the name), at which point they may wish to explore their options with professional advisors.

Can I register my business name?

Whether your business name can be registered as your domain name is a matter of name "availability". There are two aspects to this:

firstly, do a check to see if the name has been registered - if not it is available!
secondly, if it is already registered, check online to see if a web site is active at the relevant web address - there are millions of registered names not being used and in many cases the registrant will consider selling it.

If you wish to try and buy a domain from an existing registrant beware of fraud - don't send any money until you have control of the domain name. There are specialist "escrow" Internet services that provide an "intermediary" name conveyance service - see www.moniker.com. If your business name is not available in any of the versions (i.e extensions such as .com, .co.uk. .net, .org, etc.) you might compromise by adding your town or city (or some other modification to the name.

Hyphenated or unhyphenated?

A name without a hyphen has come to be regarded as preferable to one with a hyphen (in spoken or broadcast speech a double- or multi-syllable name will be assumed not to have a hyphen unless otherwise stated - and try to avoid having to describe your domain name as "something-hyphen-something" in TV/radio advertisements or when describing your web address to someone orally - you may even have to explain what a hyphen is!

A contradictory aspect of the above is that the main search engines look for an association between the domain name and the web site subject matter - and they treat hyphenated words within a name as separate for search purposes (an underscore "_" will not achieve the same effect). However, this is believed by many SEO professionals as not having a significant "weighting" in the main search engines' algorithms and, overall, the unhyphenated name still seems to be the more popular option.

Suppose your preferred name comprises two or more words and only the hyphenated version is available - don't rule it out on grounds of convention or popularity - although hyphenated names are less common there are many examples used by respected businesses. Just weigh up the above pros and cons and make your choice.

Domain name as "brand" name

There is an alternative option - choose something completely different for your online presence. A "brand" identity doesn't have to explicitly refer to or even suggest your line of business. A moment's reflection will bring to mind numerous household brand names that don't have a dictionary meaning at all! The rationale of this approach is that the business invents a word that is "empty of meaning" at the beginning and over time "invests it with unique meaning" (through their brand marketing) - so that it eventually only means one thing - namely, what their business stands for.

In general we would advise that the name should either create some direct association with the business that will use it, or else be fairly meaningless so that it avoids other associations that may be difficult to remove.

If your preferred name register it without delay!

There is some evidence that certain Internet Service Providers (ISPs) sell lists of frequently searched names that remain unregistered to specialist buyers.

Given the difficulty now of finding a suitable name that is still available to register - don't miss the opportunity of registering one if you find it!

Which extension should I register?

This depends partly on your budget (though registration fees are relatively inexpensive if you don't plan to accumulate a lot of different names).

For many, having a .com web site is preferable - and this may be true if you are aiming to communicate with prospective audiences (markets) worldwide. Due to its global appeal, the .com may also attract more SPAM (unsolicited emails) than a national domain name.

But many firms of all sizes also choose to operate under their national domain name extension - e.g, .co.uk. If you are targeting mainly the national market, the national domain name extension may sometimes be better at attracting Internet users who would be more comfortable dealing with a local seller and generally the web site may be viewed as likely to have more relevant content.

An additional benefit of using a national extension is Search Engine listing - it seems that a .co.uk web site may be more likely to get listed higher on the UK version of the search engines than if it was a .com web site.

Prospective web site visitors who are familiar with your web address but are unsure if the extension is, for example, .co.uk or .com may try both - so if you register both we can "forward" the secondary one to your web site for a small set-up fee (so that either will lead to your site) this will help more people find your site (and also give some added "protection" to your online brand.

The list below is not meant to be a set of hard and fast rules, but rather suggestions for consideration - to be applied or not as seems appropriate to the intending name registrant.

Is it easy to say - not a tongue-twister, not having more than one or two syllables? A few years ago the aim was "few letters" but most English dictionary words are now registered, thereby largely making this criterion somewhat obsolete;
Either contemporary or traditional is fine - don't confuse "cool" with "daft" or "traditional with "boring! If choosing a contemporary name try to avoid one that will later seem "dated" or gimmicky;
It's a good idea to register the .com, .co.uk (or whatever your national extension is) and .net extensions of your chosen name. This gives a measure of brand protection - most serious web marketers would not choose this name if these extensions were already registered (also see next point);
Another benefit of registering the main extensions of your name is that it minimises the risks of occupying a space next to a site you wouldn't want to associate with - which individuals from your target market might visit by accident;
If it's quite important to you to "protect your space" on the Internet - but not so important as to justify registering all extensions - you might like to consider two other tips:
- register the hyphenated versions of the name(s) you register, if they were un-hyphenated, or vice versa;
- ideally, avoid choosing a name that doesn't retain its usefulness simply by altering a suffix (common suffixes are: s, ed, ing, en, er, est).
Is it difficult to spell or pronounce? If so avoid;
Also register likely misspellings and arrange to have these "forwarded" to your web site;
Does it have the "I'm delighted I thought of that" factor? If so, that's good!;
When you select a name - allow it to settle in your consciousness before committing yourself to using it. Print the name in large (lower case) letters and place it around your office(s) - see if it "grows on you" - or if you get bored or embarrassed with it after a couple of days;
Related to the above, will the people you deal with feel comfortable and respectful referring to your business by this name? Will your clients and employees feel comfortable saying we are with ...? Rely on your judgement and intuition - employee and customer surveys would have rejected some of the most famous and successful brand names!;
Can you conceive of this name becoming regarded as a highly respected "brand name" in your industry sector? Is it worthy of your business and your industry?
If you invented a word make sure it doesn't mean something very unpleasant in a different language (look it up in a popular search engines for a start)!;
As mentioned above, be aware of rival claims of trademark owners. If only the .com is registered, check that web address to see if there is online evidence of credible world-wide rights claims;
Are there obvious distortions of the name that rivals may use (orally or online) in a derogatory way? (E.g, "construction" and "destruction"!);
Does its significance depend on abstract or educated associations that may seem sophisticated or subtle to you and your friends, but which may be lost on most of your target market?;
Remember that your brand's primary purpose is to enable your business to communicate effectively to existing and prospective customers - aesthetic, creative and/or literary considerations - if present - must serve this purpose.